Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

I would be very grateful for advice on researching the previous residents of a house - ideally using Ancestry.
Our house was built in the 1700s and I would love to learn more of the people who have lived here over the years.
I have found the house on the 1939 mini census as the gentleman we bought it from was living here then with his parents. However before that, I cannot find it.
It is slightly trickier as it is not in a specific town or village but lies between three different villages.
Ones anybody have any suggestions on how to begin?
Many thanks.

I would use the browse for each census on Ancestry to look-up previous occupants. It's a time consuming exercise and it may be difficult to identify the house on some of the records as rural dwellings often did not have names or numbers and were one of a number within a named hamlet, village or district with no other identifying information.


Blue

Hi and welcome to the forum.

If you are able to get to a local library you could ask if they have Findmypast available as there is an address search, even a street name might help.

There are street registers on Ancestry and some electoral registers.

Your local library should also have some OS maps to pinpoint your particular property.

I've no idea if we would be able to help but if you don't mind giving the location, we could try.

as they said, the censuses 1841-1911 will show occupants, occupations etc. im sure you know already.
It's not easy to just search by road. I'd like to do that for my house too. I've just been trial and error going through
the pages on ancestry until I come across a road nearby and flicking through each page unril i find the place.
Chances are some people stayed around for a while so once you know a name you can research those people.
Also try searching here, its free to view 3 pages, and you can narrow it down to your local newspapers.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
Obituaries, arrests etc. might have happened from your house.

Thank you all for your help. It really is appreciated.
I will let you know if I turn up anything interesting!

LukeJ wrote: a road nearby and flicking through each page unril i find the place.
Chances are some people stayed around for a while so once you know a name you can research those people.

Yes, if you find a neighbour, try looking for them in the next census as they may still be there.

Don't forget that the first page of each folio should list the Enumerator's walk so if the road isn't there, try the next district.

Mary did anyone ever get round to making a street index of the censuses for reference?
It would be time consuming but would be handy for the likes of us. If I had lots of free time on my hands..

LukeJ wrote: ↑

05 Jun 2018 20:25

Mary did anyone ever get round to making a street index of the censuses for reference?

1841 and 1851 were done by the Society, before ever any censuses were made available online. I believe there would be a copy at the Record Office and we should have a copy on our website, however, I'm having difficulty finding it, the old links don't get there.

The National Archives did have many of them, however they told me they had been "archived because there was no call for them"!!! But I found the best link I could and you could try to see if there is anything you need there. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov. ... &limit=500

I think mainly the best method is to use address search on Findmypast.

Further to my comment above, the census indexes for 1841 and 1851 had lost their links in the software upgrade for the website, this has now been sorted out and are available from this page, together with many other useful links.
https://www.lswlfhs.org.uk/?q=info_pages